Synergy Kitesports in Fraserburgh played host to Scottish Windfest on Tour and round 3 of the Kiteboarder Cross Tour 2014, (KBC Tour) on 1st - 3rd August 2014. With a huge expanse of beach, Fraserburgh is a well-known kitesurf location for kiters in the North East of Scotland and has been home to a number of kitesurf events in previous years.
Having been approached by both the organisers of Scottish Windfest who were looking for more stops for their tour and Aberdeenshire Council who wanted to promote Fraserburgh as a kitesurfing destination, Mark & Maggie Davies of Synergy Kitesports made the decision to organise the kitesurf event; adding an extra dimension to the weekend by incorporating the 3rd stop of the KBC Tour.
Scottish Windfest is a grass roots event organised by local kitesurfers and windsurfers. The aim of the tour is to take the event to some of Scotland's best kitesurfing and windsurfing locations to enable riders to compete or try out the sports at a local level.
The Kiteboarder Cross Tour, which originated in Saint Pierre La Mer in the south east of France, has been running for the past 4 years and has already staged 2 stops of the tour in 2014, the first being in Saint Pierre La Mer in April and the second in Dublin, Ireland in May and ExPix were on hand to document both events. Kiteboarder Cross is relatively new to the UK.
The idea in theory is that kiters race against each other whilst negotiating and jumping over a variety of obstacles. But given that most kiters have never tried it before, the outcome can be very, very, different! Put your kite in the wrong position and even if you've already cleared the obstacle, you can find yourself swinging like a pendulum right back into it, get the jump wrong, or clip the obstacle and you can end up head first in the drink, and go off course and you're faced with the task of having to tack back if you don't want to incur penalty points for missing an obstacle.
In the best scenario at least 3 races are held over the duration of the event, with points being allocated to riders according to their finishing position after each race. Once the final race is completed, riders are allowed to discount their lowest score, meaning that only the best to out of three scores count. To create a more level playing field for the kitesurfers' stances, the kiteboarder cross course is mapped out differently with the obstacles being repositioned for each race.
Light winds on Saturday resulted in a delayed start to the KBC competition and there was only enough time to complete one full race. Senior British Freestyle Kitesurf Champion, Pete Jones from Newcastle took the pole position after the first day's racing with local kitesurfers, Jake Higgins and Damien Carre finishing in 2nd and 3rd place.
Sunday morning and it was all change; the skies were blue and the on-shore wind of Saturday had turned to cross-offshore, creating challenging conditions for the kiters on the water. Whilst some local kitesurfers had the advantage of being familiar with kitesurfing at Fraserburgh beach; spotting and navigating obstacles in the waves was a different ball game!
Pete Jones on the other hand made it loom too easy; winning all 3 races, Pete took the top podium spot at the end of the final day. JP Butterworth who finished in 4th position on Saturday moved up the table to take 2nd place and Ross Knox finished in 3rd place knocking Damien Carre down to 4th.
Joining them on then podium was Maggie Davies who won the ladies competition.
Results:
1st Place - Pete Jones - 200 Points
2nd Place - JP Butterworth - 160 Points
3rd Place - Ross Knox - 160 Points
4th Place Damien Carre - 140 Points
Click the highlighted link to view all the images from Scottish Windfest on Tour and the Kite Border Cross Tour at Synergy Kitesports in Fraserburgh or browse the selection below
